Conceptual Art: A Critical Anthology - uncopy

can be measured. The intervals and measurements can be important to a work of art. If certain
distances are important they will be made obvious in the piece. If space is relatively unimportant
it can be regularized and made equal (things placed equal distances apart), to mitigate any
interest in interval. Regular space might also become a metric time element, a kind of regular
beat or pulse. When the interval is kept regular whatever is irregular gains more importance.
Architecture and three-dimensional art are of completely opposite natures. The former
is concerned with making an area with a specific function. Architecture, whether it is a work
of art or not, must be utilitarian or else fail completely. Art is not utilitarian. When threedimensional
art starts to take on some of the characteristics of architecture such as forming
utilitarian areas it weakens its function as art. When the viewer is dwarfed by the large size of
a piece this domination emphasizes the physical and emotive power of the form at the expense
of losing the idea of the piece.
New materials are one of the great afflictions of contemporary art. Some artists confuse
new materials with new ideas. There is nothing worse than seeing art that wallows in gaudy
baubles. By and large most artists who are attracted to these materials are the ones that lack
the stringency of mind that would enable them to use the materials well. It takes a good artist
to use new materials and make them into a work of art. The danger is, I think, in making the
physicality of the material so important that it becomes the idea of the work (another kind
of expressionism).
Three-dimensional art of any kind is a physical fact. This physicality is its most obvious
and expressive content. Conceptual art is made to engage the mind of the viewer rather than his
eye or emotions. The physicality of a three-dimensional object then becomes a contradiction to
its non-emotive intent. Color, surface, texture, and shape only emphasize the physical aspects
of the work. Anything that calls attention to and interests the viewer in this physicality is a
deterrent to our understanding of the idea and is used as an expressive device. The conceptual
artist would want to ameliorate this emphasis on materiality as much as possible or to use it in
a paradoxical way. (To convert it into an idea.) This kind of art, then, should be stated with
the most economy of means. Any idea that is better stated in two dimensions should not be in
three dimensions. Ideas may also be stated with numbers, photographs, or words or any way
the artist chooses, the form being unimportant.
These paragraphs are not intended as categorical imperatives but the ideas stated are as
close as possible to my thinking at this time. 3 These ideas are the result of my work as an artist
and are subject to change as my experience changes. I have tried to state them with as much
clarity as possible. If the statements I made are unclear it may mean the thinking is unclear.
sol lewitt paragraphs on conceptual art 15